Those snazzy laser-based scanners that just have to make at least one appearance in every science-fiction film worth its salt are now available for your home, and it'll cost you quite a bit less than what Hollywood presumably shelled out for theirs. Thanks to folks who see value in "free," a few clever programmers have crafted the DAVID Laserscanner software, which turns your webcam into an ultra-sensative laser recorder and then reconstructs the object on-screen based on the breaks in the beam. Reportedly, all your need is a PC, a halfway decent webcam, a perfect 90-degree angle in the corner of your wall, some foreign object(s), and a street-corner laser pointer to go along with the software. DAVID computes the beam length as you "brush over the object with the laser" in order to render the object on your display, and while it can't quite do 360-degree renditions just yet, the developers hope to add that functionality soon enough. So, if you're the proud owner of all the above prerequisites, be sure to hit the read link and get your laser scanning on.
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/22/d...laser-scanner/
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